I snap, pushing him back harder than I intend, but I don't care. Nothing matters anymore, especially nother.Daleyza gasps softly behind him, flinching at the flash of violence, her eyes wide with something that hits me square in the gut.
It’s not fear. Only disappointment.
My gloved hands flex at my sides, the leather creaking under the strain as I look between them. “You know this is for the best.”
Her eyes narrow as she shakily signs in anger.Do you really believe that? Or are you just too much of a coward to admit that you care?
I didn’t answer straight away. Couldn’t. Not without lying.
“My priority is you,” I force out. “You. Drew. Ronan. Kieran.” My jaw tightens under her stare, but I don't look away. “That's why I let her go—because she's the only one who stands a chance of ending this. The only one who might actually survive it.”
“You really think she’ll survive?” Drew's voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper. “Even if it kills her, you’re okay with that?”
Yes. No. I don’t fucking know.
I swallow the thought of her dying and nod.
“She’s not a priority.”
“Bull. Fucking. Shit.” Drew snaps. “Wake the hell up, Dar. That girl cares about you. She loves Ronan and you—for some insane reason—and yeah, she gives a damn about Kieran, too. And I haven’t even met the crazy blood mage, but he’s going to rip you apart for letting her run off to get herself killed. She didn’t have to come here. She didn’t have to save us. But she did, and this isn’t the only time.”
I know she did—that’s what twists the knife deeper. It would be so damn easy to hate her if she didn’t care. If she’d been just another reckless fool, thinking she was unstoppable. But freckles,myfreckles had a heart of gold buried beneath all that fire. And that makes hating her impossible. It also makes losing her unthinkable.
I roll my neck, trying to shake off the tight knot of frustration inside me.
“That was her choice. I need to keep you two safe.”
I know they are all keeping secrets from me because of her, but I know she isn’t a low-level witch; she’s a lot stronger than she lets on and maybe just strong enough to save my family.
Vespera didn’t have friends. Didn’t have allies. Only pawns, bodies bent to her will, and leaders of fractured witch factions who knelt because the alternative is death. She’s turned Velmore into her personal fortress of fear, where power belonged to no one but her.
She loves him, Dar. And I think he loves her too. Don’t let him lose her. Don’t let her be alone anymore.
Her words hit harder than they should have, lodging somewhere deep in my chest. Heavy. Unshakable. The kind of truth you didn’t want to hear because once it's spoken aloud, you couldn’t ignore it anymore.
I just stared back at her, every muscle in my body pulled tight like a bowstring.
Kill her.
I blink, ignoring the whispers that trickled into my mind most days.
If freckles died out there… Ronan and possibly Kieran would never forgive me.
Drew would never look at me the same.
And me? I wasn’t even sure what the hell I’d feel.
Relief, maybe. Or guilt. Or that familiar emptiness I’d spent years burying under orders and silence. But the truth was, it would matter. It already did.
I exhaled hard, dragging a hand through my hair, my jaw locked so tight I thought it might crack. “She made her choice. If she dies… that’s on her.”
Even as I said it, the words tasted like ash.
Because it wasn’t really the truth, but it was easier than saying what I actually felt somewhere deep down inside me.
Daleyza’s expression darkened, her fingers curling into tight fists at her sides. She didn’t sign anything this time—she didn’t need to. The disappointment in her eyes said enough.
Drew let out a harsh laugh beside her, the kind that was more pain than amusement. “Are you even listening to yourself?” He moves forward. “That’s not on her. That’s on us. On you.”
